About Me

Wife to a wonderful husband and mom to a beautiful daughter.
Our daughter is 14 years old, in 8th grade, and has been homeschooled from the start.
I write reviews, host giveaways, and enjoy homeschool life!

Homeschool Blogs I ♥

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Disclosure

To be in compliance with the recent FTC ruling that bloggers need to disclose if they are being paid or compensated for their posts, the following is my disclosure policy:

Our Homeschool Reviews is a blog written by me, Christine. Its sole purpose is to share homeschooling products and ideas with you.

Our Homeschool Reviews does accept and keep free products from companies and organizations. That being said, I will not be influenced by any form of compensation. I will always write my honest opinions and experiences.

Our Homeschool Reviews has several links to various stores. Some of these links are affiliate links. That means that if you click on them and purchase something using that link I get a *small* percentage of the sale. You do not have to click on them, but you are more than welcome to {and thank you if you do}.

I have used this baking mat several times now and what I really like is that it is easy to clean and nothing slicks to it! I love how everything just slips right off.Below you can see my video review. :)

Find Out More: You can find out more online at BakeitFun. The BakeitFun Standard Green Mat is just $11.99 on Amazon. BakeitFun products are backed by a Lifetime Money-Back Guarantee.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

The Fallacy Detective, by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn, is a humorous, easy to read book for ages 12 and up, on how to identify errors in logic and reasoning, from a Christian worldview.

So what exactly is a fallacy? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a fallacy is a wrong belief or a false or mistaken idea. A deceptive appearance.

“A cloud is 90% water. A watermelon is 90% water. Therefore, since a plane can fly through a cloud, a plane can fly through a watermelon.”

It is an important skill for our children to be able to discern the truth from a lie and to defend their point of view clearly. And while some fallacies are easy to spot, many others are not.

The Fallacy Detective is divided up into 38 lessons. Each lesson uses humor and real life situations to get the point across. The cartoon illustrations and comic strips from Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, and more, make this book a great introduction to logic and reasoning and enjoyable for young readers.

The book is divided into the most common errors in reasoning into three sections: avoiding the question, making assumptions, and statistical fallacies, followed by propaganda techniques used by advertisers and politicians.

After each short lesson there is a series of questions pertaining to what the student just read. It's recommended that the book is worked through in a group of two or more people, encouraging parents to learn along with their children.

In the back of the book there are instructions to play The Fallacy Detective Game, where students get to make their own fallacies.

According to the authors, when you complete this book, you should:

* Know how to spot bad reasoning
* Put a higher value on good reasoning
* Know how to avoid fallacies in your own reasoning

Thoughts of an 11-Year Old: The Fallacy Detective is a book about how to decipher bad logic and errors in reasoning. It helps you figure out things like propaganda to red herrings. If someone was trying to prove something like:"They steal bases in baseball. If it's okay for baseball players to steal, logically, it's okay for me, too!"

what could you do to figure out if this is good logic? Should this statement be backed up or figured out? Is it really logical? What kind of tricks is the crook using to get his way? Is this a fallacy?

In The Fallacy Detective, you can find out!

I really like The Fallacy Detective because it has funny cartoons, silly stories, and teaches you a lot! I am actually waiting to finish this book next year in seventh grade, so I can't wait to read more!

Find Out More: You can find out more online about The Fallacy Detective. The Fallacy Detective is for ages 12 and up and just $22 in paperback or $9.99 from the Amazon Kindle Store. They also offer a 35% discount to schools and homeschool co-ops.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

It's spring break in our area so we are taking it light this week with school. Just continuing to work on math, piano, and catching up on writing so Funny Bunny can have some time with her friends.

Over the weekend we traveled to Disney with our dance studio and the girls danced at Downtown Disney. It was very exciting for them and they did an awesome job!

We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter for the first time and really liked the location and grounds. I think we will be staying there again next time we visit.

Tomorrow we will be going to a local nursing home to deliver calendars and candy with our preteen girls group from church. Then we'll head to the park for lunch. The weather has been nice here and in the mid 80's although I think tomorrow the high will only be 70.

Next week we'll be starting Unit 26 of Resurrection to Reformation. Only 10 more weeks left, which will put us finishing school at the end of May.

That's about it for now. Will be working on a few reviews I have coming up in the next week or two.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

I posted about homeschool burn out about this time last year. Thought it would be a good topic to discuss since we are experiencing it right about now. ;)You see the end in sight, but you've been working in the same books for months, the kids are getting restless, you're already thinking about going to the next homeschool convention...your family is getting burnt out!!

So how do you avoid homeschool burn out in the first place? I think the best advice is to switch things up! Simple changes in your school day will help to energize your family, giving them the push they need to finish the school year off with a bang. Here are a few tips.

1. Location, Location, Location. Where are you currently doing your schoolwork? Is it still working for your family? If not, change it! Go to the library once a week and get school done there. Switch from the schoolroom to the kitchen, or the kitchen to the dining room. Kids love these small changes and it may make a bigger difference than you think.

2. Change Your Material. Is there a certain subject that your child is frustrated with? Change it up a bit. Instead of reading from your science text book, find a chapter book on the same subject and have them read that (or read it to them). Find a fun math program online that you can substitute for their regular math work. There are tons of FREE program out there, you just need to look for them.

3. Go Outside. When was the last time you took your children outside for a nature study or even for just a walk or bike ride? I know this time of year it is too cold in some places, but even a break to play in the snow is what they may need to get their day going.

4. Get Out Those Crafts. Has it been a while since your 4th grader got out the crafts? Crafts are fun for all ages and can be made to go along with what they are studying. Collages are easy and kids love to cut pictures out of magazines. Give them some Legos and have them make the animals who live in that habitat you are studying.

5. Experiment Day. Why not set a day aside every once in a while for experiments? Science experiments, recipe experiments, Play-Doh experiments. Expect a mess and don't worry about it. Hands on learning is the best kind of learning.

6. Time Off. Maybe what your family needs is some time off. Go on a day trip to a museum, to the park, or to the movies. Taking time off school and spending the day doing something fun as a family may be just the thing you need to re-energize!

I hope some of my tips have helped. I know when we have begun to burn out, I have tried each of these at different times, and they always seem to help!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

I am really excited to tell you about this next set of books that I received from Memoria Press! Before I do though, let me tell you a little about the company. Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces Classical Christian materials. Cheryl Lowe founded the company in 1994, and is the author of several of their books, including the very popular Latin program, Latina Christiana.

This year we have been studying the Middle Ages, so I was thrilled to have received the Famous Men of the Middle Ages set. I received the Text, Teacher's Guide, Student Guide, Lesson Plans, and the Flashcards, along with the eBook.

Famous Men of the Middle Ages is a year-long workbook course suited best for grades 5-8. The Student Guide is broken down into three introductory lessons and then 34 chapters with a review lesson after every 5-6 chapters.

Each lesson in the Student Guide includes Facts to Know {along with famous quotes}, Vocabulary, Comprehension Questions, and Activities that include things like mapwork, timelines, discussion questions, and art projects.

The Review Lessons include all the prior Vocabulary, Important Dates, Important People, Who Said That, and a Geography Review with maps, and drawing pages.

The Text is well laid out and each chapter is about a famous man in the Middle Ages starting from Alaric the Visigoth and ending with Warwick the King-Maker. Other chapters include stories about Justinian, Mohammed, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Marco Polo, Joan of Arc, and Gutenberg. Each glossy paged chapter is only 4-6 pages long and filled with beautiful illustrations.

The Teacher's Guide is a must because it contains all of the answers. It is laid out identical to the Student Guide so answers are easy to locate.

My Thoughts: If your child is studying the Middle Ages, I think this is a great resource to go along with it. The stories are short but full of information and will keep a child's attention. The Student Guide is packed with information to help them retain what they read. And there are plenty of activities for families to pick and choose what they want to do. The Flashcards are a great add on to help reinforce what they learned. The Lesson Plans are nice to have, but definitely not a necessity.

Find Out More: You can find out more online at Memoria Press. Famous Men of the Middle Ages is for grades 5-8. The Text, Student Guide, and Teacher's Manual are sold as a set for $39.95. The Lesson Plans are just $5 and the Flashcards are $12.95.

Every course you purchase from Memoria Press comes with a 60 Day Guarantee.